Susan Cianciolo's designs

“When I look at Mary Obering’s paintings, it’s as if I enter other dimensions,” Italian fashion designer and Parsons art professor Susan Cianciolo said. “To me, [Obering’s work] feels like perfection.” How fitting, then, that Cianciolo chose the New York-based artist’s paintings as the inspiration for her Spring 2012 collection, “Hearts Brake Open to Revelation Sky” -- and even better, that she was invited by Obering to debut the new pied-piper digs at a runway show hosted in the painter’s SoHo apartment on September 13, 2011.

The intimate pre-show and post-show fetes featured an old-fashioned bar nestled in Obering’s living room, an abundance of snacks and live piano accompaniment; noteworthy attendees included dealer Andrea Rosen and literary cult-filmmaker Miranda July. When it was time for fashion action, everyone took a seat -- each featuring a hand-painted Cianciolo tote bag -- and the models started strutting. Wild, teased hair, an abundance of feathers and paint, and child models figured prominently, while Cianciolo’s cloth creations boasted asymmetrical silhouettes, exposed seams, and roughly collaged patterns that seemed more hobo-chic than the abstract geometry of their painted muses, which lined the make-shift runway.

Cianciolo, meanwhile, acknowledged this contrast, expressing the hope that “seeing both styles in the beautiful, sparse space will create magic!” Take a look for yourself.